A/N : I edited the first chapter heavily so those who are skipping straight to the second chapter, please be mindful of that. Sorry for the inconvenience.

"Do you have any gate keys?"

She's standing in what seems to be the only magic shop in the whole of Hargeon, and laments a trip wasted.

The shop owner hums, "Gate keys? Those are rare and we only have one."

"I'll take it."

"It's not very powerful, it's just the key for the white dog."

"Nikolai?"

The man looks surprised, "Yes, that was it. Hold on a minute, let me just go and fetch it from the back."

A couple minutes later, he sets down the key in front of her, "The price is twenty thousand jewels."

Lucy raises an eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you trying to rip me off?"

"No, ma'am. This is the only magic shop in this town and gate keys aren't easy to obtain."

"Alright. If that's how we're playing." She shrugs and turns.

"Shall I put this in the back?"

"Oh no, sweet chumps, I'll be back. I'm just going to get a second opinion on the price from the Royal Guards. May even get time to talk about the consequences of overpricing magical items, who knows?"

Needless to say, she gets the key for fourteen thousand.

.

She's walking aimlessly around the town when someone bumps into her as they run to join a screaming crowd.

"Salamander-sama!"

"He's so handsome!"

"Marry me!"

"Step on me!"

"Okay, this is way too familiar", Lucy mutters to herself as the screaming rises in volume.

Intrigued, she pushes forward through the horde of excited females. The object of their affection seems to be a relatively tall male, an unique tattoo on his forehead half covered by his blue hair.

He's dressed quite well too, Lucy notes, taking in the ornated cape.

And then, he stares at her and smirks and Lucy has a moment to think "oh hell no he did not just-" before blood rushes to her cheeks.

Her heart starts beating faster as she gazes into the confident eyes of the fire wizard before he turns away to face another female and she sighs at the loss.

"Igneel!"

A pink haired boy stands in front of the crowd opposite to her with a look of confusion and somebody jolts her as another wave of squealing ensues.

Momentarily unbalanced, she soon catches herself before narrowing her eyes.

"Huh. Who are you?"

"If I said Salamander, would that ring any bells with you?"

She tunes out the uproar that follows as she catches sight of the multiple rings. Charm Magic.

Illegal magic.

Her lips curl in distaste as she hears the cocky invitation to the party on his ship and his flashy exit.

"Conceited bastard, right?" She says to the pink haired male, seemingly the only one besides her to not be affected by the ring's enchantment.

He looks surprised as he takes her hand to get up, the blue cat beside him nodding along.

"The guy was a creep. You showing up when you did was real lucky. How about I buy you some food as appreciation?"

.

Lucy had taken them to the nearest restaurant and watched in embarrassed wonder as the boy and cat scarfed down everything on the plate.

"So your names are Natsu and Happy? Mine's Lucy."

"Nice to meet ya!"

"Aye!"

The food flies everywhere at their exuberant greeting but she finds that she doesn't really care much for it at the sight of them enjoying it.

She briefly wonders whether she should expand on the fire wizard earlier but decides not to. Instead she asks, "I heard you mention some other name when you barged into that hormone filled crowd. Were you looking for someone?"

Natsu takes a second to answer as he swallows down the food, "yeah! Igneel makes fire too."

"Oh, you are looking for a fire wizard then? You would have better luck if you ask guilds."

"What are ya talking about? Igneel can't be in a guild, he's a dragon."

Her eye twitches, "And you thought you would find a dragon in the middle of a town?"

As epiphany dawns on them, she gets up with an exasperated sigh, "Alright. This has been a delight but I gotta go. Got stuff to do."

A moment later, she's waving off their shouts of gratitude and pushing back the autograph Natsu tries to pay her with. "It's okay, just carry on eating."

"Aye, Luigi!" Happy screams and she has to bite back her grin at the nickname as she walks out of the restaurant.

That was something of an experience.

.

Lucy is sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree in the park, mind racing as she thinks about the charm magic she encountered earlier in the day.

It's illegal, but she isn't sure if it's worth reporting. It's a temporary enchantment that grows weaker with exposure and Bora is a famous wizard, akin to that of a celebrity and it's entirely possible that he just got caught up in the fame.

It's immoral and detestable to stoop that low but he's a celebrity, a bit average in the looks department. Maybe he just wants some pretty ladies to hang off his arm as he poses for paparazzi.

Lucy groans in indecision.

"Oh my, what's got a beauty like you in a mood?"

Think of the devil, and he shall appear.

Salamander is standing in front of her, looking down at her with a self satisfied smirk. "I wanted to invite you to my party on the yacht."

Lucy stares for a second before nodding towards his hand, "It won't work on me, its weakness is awareness."

Irritation flashes across his face before he covers it up with delight.

"You're a wizard! I knew it as soon as I saw you. It doesn't matter. As long as you come to my party."

"I don't like parties," she says and picking up the magazine beside her, she gets up and turns to walk away, mind running at high speed as she tries to unravel the thinly veiled threat.

It doesn't matter as long as you come to my party.

"Wait. You want to join Fairy Tail, don't you?"

That's a twist in the conversation and she turns to face him, "What do you mean?"

Salamander looks smug at her sudden interest, "I am Salamander of FairyTail. And I'll put in a good word for you to the master."

"Really? You would do that?"

"Of course. As long as you keep quiet about the charm magic and come to my party."

She stares at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Alright then, I'll come to the party."

"Great! See you at eight in the yacht."

She peers thoughtfully at his retreating back.

It doesn't matter as long as you come to my party.

.

A/N : gimme some ideas for natsu and happy's nicknames as well as for the rest of team natsu? i so badly want lucy to call them by stupid nicknames like tony does with everyone but my mind simply isnt that amazing to come up with nicknames.

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